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Caio Borralho has a plan for UFC Paris. | Getty/UFC
After months of hard negotiation, finally Caio Borralho was able to see his fight with No. 1 middleweight contender Nassourdine Imavov confirmed as the main event of UFC Fight Night 258 in Paris.
“Imavov did everything to avoid me, but he is not the big star he thinks yet,” Borralho told Sherdog.com. “We will fight five rounds in France, the country where he lives. But he is not French, and I’ll change the cheering to support me instead of him. I´ll be fighting him like I’m at home.”
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The Fighting Nerds representative revealed that mental games will play an important role in the the Sept. 6 bout.
“I believe a lot in the Art of War. I mean, the war starts much before the battle,” Borralho said. “I’ll break him mentally before the fight. I have everything planned with my marketing and social media team upon that.”
In Borralho’s opinion, the disappointment of not getting an immediate title shot might affect Imavov in the Octagon.
“He is already feeling the pressure because this is a fight he didn’t want, so somehow he is already mentally broken,” Borralho said. “I’ll just intensify that exponentially before the fight and finish it inside the Octagon.
“Knowing his personality, he is a guy who doesn’t like to be pressured. He is a very proud guy who wants to show he is a star, something that might be good but can also bring a lot of frustration.”
Borralho didn’t hesitate to reveal some of his strategy to gradually wear Imavov down in the UFC Paris headliner.
“‘Ill press him from the beginning using MMA,” Borralho said. “I’ll use some provocative blows to make him commit mistakes. Maybe I’ll use the same face slap that I used against my opponent in the future when I need him to hit me back. I see two very competitive rounds and from the third on I see myself growing, keeping up the pressure like I did in the five rounds against [Jared] Cannonier. And against Jared I just had three weeks to get ready — imagine now that I’ll have a complete camp of 10 weeks. So my plan is to knock him out after the third round or submit him before that.”
Borralho Favors Chimaev in UFC 319 Main Event
Borralho has no doubt that the winner of his fight with Imavov will face the winner of Dricus Du Plessis vs. Khamzat Chimaev. Asked to choose his favorite in the main event of UFC 319, the Brazilian tends to favor his former training partner, but he recognizes that the current champion can surprise him once again.
“I see that fight with two clear different possibilities,” Borralho said. “It can be Chimaev winning fast. As fast as the [Robert] Whittaker one, with Chimaev taking the champion down and submitting him in less than two minutes. But on the other hand, Dricus already proved me wrong many times. He has something that maybe you just understand when you are fighting him in the cage, that we can’t get from the outside.
“Unlike Whittaker, Dricus is a big guy for that weight division who has excellent takedown defense. Maybe, even if Chimaev takes him down, it will be difficult to keep him on the ground. In case Dricus is able to defend the takedowns in the first two rounds, I believe the fight can start to go in his favor from the third round on. One of the biggest qualities I see in Dricus is that even tired, he keeps growing in the fight, bringing the oponent to deep waters. Of course it can happen again. But I´m between 60% and 70% for the first possibility with Chimaev getting the belt fast.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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